Features

Remembering Tak Bai

Thai Muslim students from Ramkhamhaeng University conducted a gathering, discussion and demonstration for justice on October 23 in Bangkok. Young people gathered in the evening to remember the Tak Bai tragedy.

What Happened in Tak Bai?

Ramadan, in Narathiwat. October 25, 2004, the Thai army and security forces fired on ethnic Patani Muslims who were protesting in the Tak Bai district. Seven demonstrators died. The deaths continued. 78 protesters suffocated or were crushed to death while being transported to an army camp in Pattani province.

The Human Rights Watch reported that the military detained more than 1,200 people for several days without medical attention, and a number of severely injured protesters lost their limbs. In August 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that security personnel were blameless because they had only been performing their duties.